Nor was encouragement refused to those who distinguished themselves by extraordinary talents in any branch of the liberal and useful arts and sciences, though no Maecenas appeared among the ministers, and not the least ray of patronage glimmered from the throne. The protection, countenance, and gratification secured in other countries by the institution of academies, and the liberalities of princes, the ingenious in England derived from the generosity of a public, endued with taste and sensibility, eager for improvement, and proud of patronising extraordinary merit. Several years had already elapsed since a society of private persons was instituted at London, for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce. It consisted of a president, vice-president, secretary, register, collector, and other officers, elected from a very considerable number of members, who pay a certain yearly contribution for the purposes of the institution. In the course of every year they held eight general meetings in a large assembly-room, built and furnished at the common expense; besides the ordinary meetings of the society, held every week, from the second Wednesday in November to the last Wednesday in May; and in the intermediate time, on the first and third Wednesday of every month. At these ordinary meetings, provided the number then present exceeded ten, the members had a right to proceed on business, and power to appoint such committees as they should think necessary. The money contributed by this association, after the necessary expense of the society had been deducted, was expended in premiums for planting and husbandry; for discoveries and improvements in chemistry, dying, and mineralogy; for promoting the ingenious arts of drawing, engraving, casting, painting, statuary, and sculpture; for the improvement of manufactures and machines, in the various articles of hats, crapes, druggets, mills, marbled-paper, ship-blocks, spinning-wheels, toys, yarn, knitting, and weaving. They likewise allotted sums for the advantage of the British colonies in America, and bestowed premiums on those settlers who should excel in curing cochineal, planting logwood-trees, cultivating olive-trees, producing myrtle-wax, making potash, preserving raisins, curing saffiour, making silk and wines, importing sturgeon, preparing isinglass, planting hemp and cinnamon, extracting opium and the gum of the persimon-tree, collecting stones of the mango, which should be found to vegetate in the West Indies; raising silk-grass, and laying out provincial gardens. They moreover allowed a gold medal in honour of him who should compose the best treatise on the arts of peace, containing an historical account of the progressive improvements of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce in the kingdom of England, with the effects of those improvements on the morals and manners of the people, and pointing out the most proper means for their future advancement. In a word, the society is so numerous, the contributions so considerable, the plan so judiciously laid, and executed with such discretion and spirit, as to promise much more effectual and extensive advantage to the public than ever accrued from all the boasted academies of Christendom. The artists of London had long maintained a private academy for improvement in the art of drawing from living figures; but in order to extend this advantage, which was not attained without difficulty and expense, the duke of Richmond, a young nobleman of the most amiable character, provided a large apartment at Whitehall, for the use of those who studied the arts of painting, sculpture, and engraving; and furnished it with a collection of original plaster casts from the best antique statues and busts at Rome and Florence. Here any learner had liberty to draw, or make models, under the eye and instructions of two eminent artists and twice a year the munificent founder bestowed premiums of silver medals on the four pupils who excelled the rest in drawing from a certain figure, and making the best model of it in basso-relievo. [479] [See note 3 R, at the end of this Vol.]
On the twenty-third day of November both houses of parliament met at Westminster, when his majesty being indisposed, the session was opened by commission, and the lord-keeper harangued them to this effect. He told them, his majesty had directed the lords of the commission to assure his parliament that he always received the highest satisfaction in being able to lay before them any event that might promote the honour and interests of his kingdoms; that in consequence of their advice, and enabled by the assistance which they unanimously gave, his majesty had exerted his endeavours to carry on the war in the most vigorous manner, in order to attain that desirable end, always to be wished, a safe and honourable peace:* that it had pleased the Divine Providence to bless his measures and arms with success in several parts, and to make the enemies of the nation feel, that the strength of Great Britain is not to be provoked with impunity: that the conquest of the strong fortress of Louisbourg, with the islands of Cape-Breton and St. John; the demolition of Frontenac, of the highest importance to his operations in America, and the reduction of Senegal, could not fail to bring great distress on the French commerce and colonies, and, in proportion, to procure great advantages to those of Great Britain.
* In the month of August, the king, in quality of elector of Hanover, having occasion for two hundred thousand pounds, a loan by subscription for that sum was opened at the bank, and filled immediately by seven or eight money-dealers of London.
He observed, that France had also been made sensible, that whilst her forces are sent forth to invade and ravage the dominions of her neighbours, her own coasts are not inaccessible to his majesty’s fleets and armies—a truth which she had experienced in the demolition of the works at Cherbourg, erected at a great expense, with a particular view to annoy England, as well as in the loss of a great number of ships and vessels; but no treatment, however injurious to his majesty, could tempt him to make retaliation on the innocent subjects of that crown. He told them, that in Germany his majesty’s good brother the king of Prussia, and prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, had found full employment for the enemies of France and her confederates, from which the English operations, both by sea and in America, had derived the most evident advantage: their successes owing, under God, to their able conduct, and the bravery of his majesty’s troops, and those of his allies, having been signal and glorious. The king, moreover, commanded them to declare, that the common cause of liberty and independency was still making noble and glorious efforts against the unnatural union formed to oppress it: that the commerce of his subjects, the source of national riches, had, by the vigilant protection received from his majesty’s fleet, flourished in a manner not to be paralleled during such troubles. In this state of things, he said, the king in his wisdom thought it unnecessary to use many words to persuade them to bear up against all difficulties, effectually to stand by and defend his majesty, vigorously to support the king of Prussia and the rest of his majesty’s allies, and to exert themselves to reduce their enemies to equitable terms of accommodation. He observed to the house of commons, that the uncommon extent of this war, in different parts, occasioned it to be uncommonly expensive: that the king had ordered them to declare to the commons, that he sincerely lamented, and deeply felt, for the burdens of his people: that the several estimates were ordered to be laid before them: and that he desired only such supplies as should be requisite to push the war with advantage, and be adequate to the necessary services. In the last place, he assured them the king took so much satisfaction in that good harmony which subsisted among his faithful subjects, that it was more proper for him now to thank them for it, than to repeat his exhortation to it: that this union, necessary at all times, was more especially so in such critical conjunctures; and his majesty doubted not but the good effects the nation had found from it would be the strongest motives to them to pursue it.—The reader will, no doubt, be surprised to find this harangue abound with harshness of period and inelegancy of expression; he will wonder that, in particularizing the successes of the year in America, no mention is made of the reduction of fort Du Quesne on the river Ohio; a place of great importance, both from its strength and situation, the erection of which had been one great motive to the war between the two nations; but he will be still more surprised to hear it declared from the throne, that the operations, both by sea and in America, had derived the most evident advantage from the war in Germany. An assertion the more extraordinary, as the British ministry, in their answer to the Parallel, which we have already mentioned, had expressly affirmed, that “none but such as are unacquainted with the maritime force of England can believe, that without a diversion on the continent, to employ part of the enemy’s force, she is not in a condition to hope for success and maintain her superiority at sea. That they must be very ignorant indeed, who imagine that the forces of England are not able to resist those of France unless the latter be hindered from turning all her efforts to the sea.” It is very remarkable that the British ministry should declare that the war in Germany was favourable to the English operations by sea and in America, and almost in the same breath accuse the French king of having fomented that war. Let us suppose that France had no war to maintain in Europe; and ask in what manner she, in that case, would have opposed the progress of the British arms by sea and in America? Her navy was reduced to such a condition that it durst not quit her harbours; her merchant ships were all taken, her mariners confined in England, and the sea was covered with British cruisers: in these circumstances, what expedients could she have contrived for sending supplies and reinforcements to America, or for opposing the naval armaments of Great Britain in any other part of the world?—None. Without ships and mariners, her troops, ammunition, and stores were, in this respect, as useless as money to a man shipwrecked on a desolate island. But granting that the war in Germany had, in some measure, diverted the attention of the French ministry from the prosecution of their operations in America, (and this is granting more than ought to be allowed,) the question is not, Whether the hostilities upon the continent of Europe prevented France from sending a greater number of troops to Canada; but whether the war in Germany was either necessary or expedient for distressing the French more effectually in other parts of the world? Surely every intelligent man of candour must answer in the negative. The expense incurred by England for subsidies and armies in the empire exceeded three millions sterling annually; and this enormous expense, without being able to protect Hanover, only served to keep the war alive in different parts of Germany. Had one half of this sum been employed in augmenting and extending the naval armaments of Great Britain, and in reinforcing her troops in America and the West Indies, France would have been, at this day, deprived of all her sugar colonies, as well as of her settlements on the continent of America; and being absolutely cut off from these sources of wealth, would have found it impracticable either to gratify her subsidiaries, or to maintain such formidable armies to annoy her neighbours. These are truths, which will appear to the conviction of the public, when the illusive spells of unsubstantial victory are dissolved, and time shall have dispersed the thick mists of prejudice which now seem to darken and perplex the understanding of the people.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
NEW TREATY WITH THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
The conduct of the administration was so agreeable to both houses of parliament, that in their address to the throne they expressed their unshaken zeal and loyalty to his majesty’s person, congratulated him on the success of his arms, and promised to support his measures and allies with steadiness and alacrity. *
* That the charge of disaffection to the king’s person, which was so loudly trumpeted by former ministers and their adherents against those who had honesty and courage to oppose the measures of a weak and corrupt administration, was entirely false and without foundation, appeared at this juncture, when in the midst of a cruel, oppressive, and continental war, maintained by the blood and treasure of Great Britain, all opposition ceased in both houses of parliament. The addresses of thanks to his majesty, which are always dictated by the immediate servants of the crown, were unanimously adopted in both houses, and not only couched in terms of applause, but even inflated with expressions of rapture and admiration. They declared themselves sensible, that the operations of Great Britain, both by sea and in America, had received the most evident and important advantages from the maintenance of the war in Germany, and seemed eager to espouse any measure that might gratify the inclination of the sovereign.
It was probably in consequence of this assurance that a new treaty between Great Britain and Prussia was concluded at London on the seventh day of December, importing, That as the burdensome war in which the king of Prussia is engaged, lays him under the necessity of making fresh efforts to defend himself against the multitude of enemies who attack his dominions, he is obliged to take new measures with the king of England, for their reciprocal defence and safety; and his Britannic majesty hath at the same time signified his earnest desire to strengthen the friendship subsisting between the two courts; and, in consequence thereof, to conclude a formal convention, for granting to his Prussian majesty speedy and powerful assistance, their majesties have nominated and authorized their ministers to concert and settle the following articles:—All formal treaties between the two crowns, particularly that signed at Westminster on the sixteenth day of January in the year 1756, and the convention of the eleventh of April in the year 1758, are confirmed by the present convention of the eleventh of April in the year 1758, in their whole tenor, as if they were herein inserted word for word. The king of Great Britain shall cause to be paid at London, to such person or persons as shall be authorized by the king of Prussia for that end, the sum of four millions of rix-dollars, making six hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling, at one payment, immediately on the exchange of the ratification, if the king of Prussia should so require. His Prussian majesty shall employ the said sum in supporting and augmenting his forces, which shall act in such manner as shall be of the greatest service to the common cause, and contribute most to the mutual defence and safety of their said majesties. The king of Great Britain, both as king and elector, and the king of Prussia, reciprocally bind themselves not to conclude with the powers that have taken part in the present war, any treaty of peace, truce, or other such like convention, but by common advice and consent, each expressly including therein the other. The ratification of the present convention shall be exchanged within six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In effect, this treaty was no other than a renewal of the subsidy from year to year, because it was not thought proper to stipulate in the first subsidiary convention an annual supply of such importance until the war should be terminated, lest the people of England should be alarmed at the prospect of such successive burdens, and the complaisance of the commons be in some future session exhausted. On the whole, this was perhaps the most extraordinary treaty that ever was concluded; for it contains no specification of articles, except the payment of the subsidy; every other article was left to the interpretation of his Prussian majesty.